


Thicker than Water

by ineptshieldmaid



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-13
Updated: 2008-11-13
Packaged: 2017-10-10 18:39:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/102843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineptshieldmaid/pseuds/ineptshieldmaid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Edmund Pevensie believes his family to be inviolable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thicker than Water

These are the things which Edmund Pevensie has always believed: that his family is inviolable; that he is not as brave as his brother Peter; that he is not as sensible as his sister Susan; that he is not as caring as his sister Lucy; that it will not matter if he is less than they, because there are four of them, sisters and brothers, and when you are small, it is easy to believe you will be together forever.

When Peter goes away to school, Edmund does not say to anyone that he misses him. He assumes they all know, and he takes extra care now to look after Lucy, and makes a special effort to carry Susan's books whenever he can. Somehow, he never has the right words to say when Lucy cries. When he tells Susan that she looks nice, her smile does not light her whole face, and although he knows she loves him, he is just her little brother. He is still not as brave as his brother Peter, and there are bigger boys in their little school who had only ever left Ed Pevensie alone because he was Peter Pevensie's brother. He tries not to let Susan see, but some days, when there is blood on his chin and his shirt, she has to clean him up before they can go home.

 

* * *

  
These are the things which Edmund Pevensie still believes: that it is his job to look after Lucy, now that Peter and Susan are both at school. That Susan really does miss him, even though she writes to Peter (who never writes back) and to Lucy, but sends only greetings to Edmund in her letters to Mother. That the war really will be over by Christmas.

There are other children in their school who are being sent away from London already. Edmund is glad that Peter and Susan are safe at school, but he thinks that he and Lucy must really stay here. They must go on sleeping in the same rooms, reading and playing in the same nursery, lest somehow everything should change. Some afternoons he goes into Lucy's room, and sits on Susan's bed and they talk, or play with her dolls. Some afternoons Lucy comes into his room, and sits on Peter's bed, and he reads to her or listens to her spelling lists. They both know that they are waiting for term break, and for summer after that.

 

* * *

  
There is something which Edmund Pevensie no longer believes: that it does not matter if he is not as brave as his brother Peter. That Peter will not mind if he, Edmund, is more scared or less strong, because Edmund is Peter's brother. This is something Edmund believed just a few moments ago, and now he does not.

Edmund had believed, when Peter appeared out of nowhere, that the bigger boys would slip away, as they had done at elementary school. But here, Peter Pevensie is no longer the biggest boy in the school. He can fight, though, which Edmund supposes Peter must have learnt at school. He comes off worst, with a bloodied nose and bruised ribs, and Edmund is left with cuts and bruises of his own.

And then Peter looks him over, and Edmund realises that that look on his brother's face is mingled pity and scorn. Peter pulls him to his feet and checks him over perfunctorily, and says,

'Not much harm done.' Edmund thinks there has been plenty of harm done, and most of it to Peter.

'Look, Ed,' Peter says, with a chummy pat on the shoulder, 'you've got to fight your own fights, here. I can't always be around to look after you. Don't let a scene like that happen again, understand?'

'It won't,' Edmund promises. It does, but he never says as much to Peter. And Peter never asks.

 


End file.
